Huffington Post calls NZ Election dirty like Zimbabwe

I saw this article by James Warren over at the Huffington Post yesterday, and was amazed at our lil’ ole election getting a shout out, in respect to dirty elections, compared to the 2008 US election campaign.

Not only did NZ get a shout out, but we got lumbered in with the likes of Zimbabwe, which – together with Russia and Nigeria – we apparently make the current US election campaign look like a Stepford Wives Tupperware party. Hmmn. Our politicians wish.

But as far as campaigns, we don’t know dirty.

Picking recent and ongoing campaigns in Nigeria, Russia, Austria, New Zealand, Taiwan and Zimbabwe, they remind that we’re watching a Stepford Wives Tupperware gathering by comparison, with all the venom of virtually any congressional hearing (“I thank the gentle lady from Florida….”).

By the way, I hate Tupperware. Correction: I heart Tupperware – and the childhood memories of plastic sealing delight – but I hate the prices, and the parties, and the catalogues. There’s nothing worse than synthetic snobbery.

I’m loving reading the comments left for Mr Warren, defending our poor, wee politicians. Here are a couple of them:

Who’d have thunk we’d be defending our politicians against the smear of being dirtier than American politicians? Hard to imagine any of them being worthy of any type of defence. Oo, do I sound cynical? Hmmn. Jeesh, hurry up elections, how many more weeks till we vote? Has anyone officially named it Vovember yet?

Commenters from Taiwan, Nigeria and other countries named as dirty also leave Mr Warren comments correcting some of his assertions. Um, all except Zimbabwe. No arguments there.